Considering a different career path is a strange exercise for Raphael Delacour, because, thinking back... there hasn't really been an alternative for a while now.
"You know when I was a kid, I didn't really see myself as an athlete, but I liked the performing arts, so probably that path. Not exactly an easier road," he shrugs. "But once I started on the athletic path, that was it. I didn't ever really consider another path again. Not unless I was thinking post-retirement, I guess."
This is a strange thing to hear from a Harvard graduate, who produced and directed a short movie that gained acclaim at the Maryland Film Festival when he was still a teenager, but it shows the degree to which sports run in his family. "It's only my sister Elaine who isn't really athletic," Raphael explains. "The rest of us, dad, Soph, elite athletes. Even mom was athletic in high school. Elaine just hasn't ever really cared for it, but even she's involved in sport, doing analysis stuff. So I guess growing up in that environment, it was sort of inevitable for me to end up doing what I do."
But what about film? His degree is in Film Studies after all.
"Film was something I got into by accident I think. I wanted to be a musician like my great-great-grandfather when I was younger. I'd listen to Granny Lucille [his father's grandmother, to be clear] telling stories about him and she'd play his music and I'd just sit there thinking he must have been so cool. I wanted to be like him." Raphael says. "I remember nobody in school had heard of him though, not even my music teachers. So I think it was just one of those moments where I'm realising 'someone needs to tell them about this man', and I made a short film about him for a school project. I got some great feedback and it spiralled from there."
He goes on to clarify that he does love film, and his recent forays into acting have been enjoyable, but that he's focused on his playing career first. "I have to do everything I can to meet Pop in the Hall before I do anything else," he laughs. "I don't want to retire with regrets."
"You know when I was a kid, I didn't really see myself as an athlete, but I liked the performing arts, so probably that path. Not exactly an easier road," he shrugs. "But once I started on the athletic path, that was it. I didn't ever really consider another path again. Not unless I was thinking post-retirement, I guess."
This is a strange thing to hear from a Harvard graduate, who produced and directed a short movie that gained acclaim at the Maryland Film Festival when he was still a teenager, but it shows the degree to which sports run in his family. "It's only my sister Elaine who isn't really athletic," Raphael explains. "The rest of us, dad, Soph, elite athletes. Even mom was athletic in high school. Elaine just hasn't ever really cared for it, but even she's involved in sport, doing analysis stuff. So I guess growing up in that environment, it was sort of inevitable for me to end up doing what I do."
But what about film? His degree is in Film Studies after all.
"Film was something I got into by accident I think. I wanted to be a musician like my great-great-grandfather when I was younger. I'd listen to Granny Lucille [his father's grandmother, to be clear] telling stories about him and she'd play his music and I'd just sit there thinking he must have been so cool. I wanted to be like him." Raphael says. "I remember nobody in school had heard of him though, not even my music teachers. So I think it was just one of those moments where I'm realising 'someone needs to tell them about this man', and I made a short film about him for a school project. I got some great feedback and it spiralled from there."
He goes on to clarify that he does love film, and his recent forays into acting have been enjoyable, but that he's focused on his playing career first. "I have to do everything I can to meet Pop in the Hall before I do anything else," he laughs. "I don't want to retire with regrets."
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